Luckily, ginger and garlic lend themselves to long-term storage in the form of ginger-garlic paste, and it's an absolute breeze to make for yourself, so long as you've got a few basic ingredients and tools! For the visual learners in the audience, check out this album!

North Indian food is based in the great city cuisine prominent in Delhi and Mumbai and the rich delicacies of Punjab and Gujarat. It has an emphasis on wheat and dairy and is commonly prepared atop a base of onion, garlic, and ginger. Perhaps most importantly, it's the food that most Westerners think of when they imagine Indian specialties: chicken tikka masala, saag paneer, naan, and mango lassi. These dishes, introduced to the broader world via the British Raj and a constant stream of Indian, Bengali, and Pakistani emigrants, are nearly synonymous with Indian cooking for most people.